Camping at Algonquin
Friday, June 23:
I had the privilege of sitting almost a total of 7 hours in two cars, (long because of rush hour traffic, ugh) travelling from K-town to T.O. to Algonquin. It was totally worth it though, as the weekend was awesome! On the way up to camp with PS and CQ, we saw two moose! I've never seen a real moose before (city slicker, hehe) and so it was magnificent to see them. We had a chance to stop at Webber's, a neat burger joint along the 400 just north of Orillia for a burger and fries...yum...tasted so good! But I guess any food will taste good when hungry, and I haven't had a burger in a long time.
Reached camp at 9pm, and was almost immediately attacked by mosquitoes as I tried to set up the tent before all sunlight was gone. Afterwards, it was sweet just relaxing by the camp fire, swapping stories and catching up with people, eating marshmallows and making smores. Star-gazing was breathtaking...millions of stars and the Milky Way crystal clear in the sky! The sky just kept on going and going forever with stars. Nothing like that in T.O. or K-town, ever. :P (Well, except during the blackout across the eastern seaboard.)
First night in the tent was freezing cold. My nose and my toes were cold and that makes for unpleasant sleeping...slept in several layers of clothing along with the sleeping bag! As a result, I got very little sleep, since I am the type of person who likes my sleep uninterrupted, none of the getting up and going to the washroom only to go back to sleep; takes me a long time to fall asleep.
Saturday, June 24:
Breakfast was a simple continental style breakfast, but it gets better! I am getting ahead of myself though...hehe. After breakfast, it was all hands on deck to make chicken strips wraps for lunch during our day canoe trip. Everyone made their wraps while AF directed everyone...as JV said, she could work at a Pita Pit!! :) Or rather RUN a Pita Pit and be the training manager, hehe.
Our canoeing day trip was just amazing, and the weather was gorgeous! Lots of puffy clouds dotted the sky that was pure blue. The water in the lakes were so calm and clear that it reflected the sky beautifully. I was in a two-person canoe with T and keeping up with his paddling was hard work. I had fun with it, but it was much more hard work than I realized, as my arms felt like they were going to fall off when evening came. My arms were so sore and aching...hehe. Let's see...what else did we do...we paddled and paddled some more, grouped the canoes together several times to rest, some people took dips in the lake a few times to cool down/take a "bath" (lol). There was one section between two lakes that we portaged about 300 metres. The first time down that portage trail, we did it the inefficient way by lugging the canoes right-side up. Whatever happened to all the camping smarts from those who've done it before??!! :P The second time down the trail, we all smartened up and carried the canoes the correct way, upside down. Of course, the privilege went to the boys, haha. The rest of us carried the paddles, bags and lifejackets. And how can I forget our canoe wars? Water and paddles means lots of splashing, racing (CT's boat didn't exactly go straight though, lol, it was the human zigzag canoe), and ramming other canoes. I had a few instances where my "human steerage" either "broke down" (I had to do all the paddling) or disappeared completely (T went for a swim). But of course, I got to laze in the front for some moments too, dragging my feet in the cool lake water or kicking back to get a free ride.
Dinner is what I call gourmet camp food, compliments of CT. He can cook up a storm any time, but put him on food for camp and you're in for a mighty treat! After a long (almost 6 hours) day of canoeing, we had barbecued chicken shish kabobs (lime, and balsamic marinated), roasted potatoes that were darn good (I thought they were store-bought, that's how good they were!), roasted garlic (I think CT ended up eating them all himself, hehe, poor AF), salad. That was the BEST camp food ever!! Thanks to CT, AF and MC for preparing all the food for the weekend!
Needless to say, after all that canoeing, I couldn't sleep despite being really tired, because my arms were aching to the bone. I kept tossing and turning and waking up, trying to get comfortable.
Sunday, June 25:
So the food just keeps getting better. :) Sunday morning, we had french toast and sausages!! How amazing is that?!! (AF, you're going to be getting gourmet cooking for a life-time!!) Anyways, we had to be off our campsites by 12 noon, so after breakfast, we packed everything up and headed to the beach. The first place had nasty, stagnant water. Moving to a bigger and better beach was a really good idea. :) MC, JV, and T were the adventurous ones (and the ones who could swim a distance and not drown), swimming over to an island off in the distance. A bunch of people went hiking. Tthe rest of us (me included) just lazed on the beach, reading, playing Boggle, chatting, eating all the leftovers from the weekend. I decided to take a peek at JV's magazine, since it featured recipes and I love trying new recipes. I thought it was Maclean's, which made complete sense for someone like JV...but then I read the article title "Recipes for 6-pack abs" or something to that effect! I laughed out loud, double-checked the cover, and laughed again. It was Men's Health! Ahaha...I found it amusing. :P I hope you're just reading it for fun, JV, because you are a beautiful person all around and we like you just the way you are!
Having to head home after such an awesome weekend made me sad. I guess I have next year to look forward to!! Going to really miss those of you who are going far away for a year or more!! All the more reason for me to make a trip the West Coast!!
AF's photos
DM's photos
I had the privilege of sitting almost a total of 7 hours in two cars, (long because of rush hour traffic, ugh) travelling from K-town to T.O. to Algonquin. It was totally worth it though, as the weekend was awesome! On the way up to camp with PS and CQ, we saw two moose! I've never seen a real moose before (city slicker, hehe) and so it was magnificent to see them. We had a chance to stop at Webber's, a neat burger joint along the 400 just north of Orillia for a burger and fries...yum...tasted so good! But I guess any food will taste good when hungry, and I haven't had a burger in a long time.
Reached camp at 9pm, and was almost immediately attacked by mosquitoes as I tried to set up the tent before all sunlight was gone. Afterwards, it was sweet just relaxing by the camp fire, swapping stories and catching up with people, eating marshmallows and making smores. Star-gazing was breathtaking...millions of stars and the Milky Way crystal clear in the sky! The sky just kept on going and going forever with stars. Nothing like that in T.O. or K-town, ever. :P (Well, except during the blackout across the eastern seaboard.)
First night in the tent was freezing cold. My nose and my toes were cold and that makes for unpleasant sleeping...slept in several layers of clothing along with the sleeping bag! As a result, I got very little sleep, since I am the type of person who likes my sleep uninterrupted, none of the getting up and going to the washroom only to go back to sleep; takes me a long time to fall asleep.
Saturday, June 24:
Breakfast was a simple continental style breakfast, but it gets better! I am getting ahead of myself though...hehe. After breakfast, it was all hands on deck to make chicken strips wraps for lunch during our day canoe trip. Everyone made their wraps while AF directed everyone...as JV said, she could work at a Pita Pit!! :) Or rather RUN a Pita Pit and be the training manager, hehe.
Our canoeing day trip was just amazing, and the weather was gorgeous! Lots of puffy clouds dotted the sky that was pure blue. The water in the lakes were so calm and clear that it reflected the sky beautifully. I was in a two-person canoe with T and keeping up with his paddling was hard work. I had fun with it, but it was much more hard work than I realized, as my arms felt like they were going to fall off when evening came. My arms were so sore and aching...hehe. Let's see...what else did we do...we paddled and paddled some more, grouped the canoes together several times to rest, some people took dips in the lake a few times to cool down/take a "bath" (lol). There was one section between two lakes that we portaged about 300 metres. The first time down that portage trail, we did it the inefficient way by lugging the canoes right-side up. Whatever happened to all the camping smarts from those who've done it before??!! :P The second time down the trail, we all smartened up and carried the canoes the correct way, upside down. Of course, the privilege went to the boys, haha. The rest of us carried the paddles, bags and lifejackets. And how can I forget our canoe wars? Water and paddles means lots of splashing, racing (CT's boat didn't exactly go straight though, lol, it was the human zigzag canoe), and ramming other canoes. I had a few instances where my "human steerage" either "broke down" (I had to do all the paddling) or disappeared completely (T went for a swim). But of course, I got to laze in the front for some moments too, dragging my feet in the cool lake water or kicking back to get a free ride.
Dinner is what I call gourmet camp food, compliments of CT. He can cook up a storm any time, but put him on food for camp and you're in for a mighty treat! After a long (almost 6 hours) day of canoeing, we had barbecued chicken shish kabobs (lime, and balsamic marinated), roasted potatoes that were darn good (I thought they were store-bought, that's how good they were!), roasted garlic (I think CT ended up eating them all himself, hehe, poor AF), salad. That was the BEST camp food ever!! Thanks to CT, AF and MC for preparing all the food for the weekend!
Needless to say, after all that canoeing, I couldn't sleep despite being really tired, because my arms were aching to the bone. I kept tossing and turning and waking up, trying to get comfortable.
Sunday, June 25:
So the food just keeps getting better. :) Sunday morning, we had french toast and sausages!! How amazing is that?!! (AF, you're going to be getting gourmet cooking for a life-time!!) Anyways, we had to be off our campsites by 12 noon, so after breakfast, we packed everything up and headed to the beach. The first place had nasty, stagnant water. Moving to a bigger and better beach was a really good idea. :) MC, JV, and T were the adventurous ones (and the ones who could swim a distance and not drown), swimming over to an island off in the distance. A bunch of people went hiking. Tthe rest of us (me included) just lazed on the beach, reading, playing Boggle, chatting, eating all the leftovers from the weekend. I decided to take a peek at JV's magazine, since it featured recipes and I love trying new recipes. I thought it was Maclean's, which made complete sense for someone like JV...but then I read the article title "Recipes for 6-pack abs" or something to that effect! I laughed out loud, double-checked the cover, and laughed again. It was Men's Health! Ahaha...I found it amusing. :P I hope you're just reading it for fun, JV, because you are a beautiful person all around and we like you just the way you are!
Having to head home after such an awesome weekend made me sad. I guess I have next year to look forward to!! Going to really miss those of you who are going far away for a year or more!! All the more reason for me to make a trip the West Coast!!
AF's photos
DM's photos
posted by clara at
10:54 p.m.
